2021 Murray Bridge Cup Review
In front of a great crowd, Air Marshall claimed the 2021 Daish Irrigation and Fodder Murray Bridge Cup on Sunday night for trainer Ray Murray in what was a fantastic night of racing.
Contesting his second Cup final in a row, the 2020 SA Short Course Greyhound of the Year was well-supported in the markets after his terrific win in his heat last Friday and jumped as third favourite behind sprint queen, Coorong Lucy for Cameron Butcher and the up-and-coming Undercut for Tony Rasmussen.
As the lids went up it was the Jeff Galea trained Run Baba Run who set the early pace beginning brilliantly from box 1 with Danyo's Wylie for Lauren Harris and Rushes for Lisa Rasmussen pushing up hard through the middle while Air Marshall was able to move down towards the rail, stalking the early leader. Heading to the bend, Air Marshall began to make his move showing his customary mid-race acceleration as he moved around Run Baba Run to gain the lead while Undercut who had found the rail moved up into third along with the Jeff Britton trained Weblec Ace who was finishing on strongly.
It was a great battle down the home straight as Air Marshall kicked on strongly in the lead while Run Baba Run never gave in and continued to push the leader the whole way to the line but couldn't quite close the gap. Air Marshall stopped the clocked at 25.42 seconds to claim the Cup just half a length ahead of the brave Run Baba Run in second while Undercut ran home well to finish in 3rd place as did Weblec Ace in fourth place.
The son of Banjo Boy and Aunty Chopper, Air Marshall has been fantastic for owner Ray Murray having reached a number of feature finals in 2020 including the Group 3 Gawler Gold Cup, Listed Murray Bridge Cup, the SA Straight Track Championship and setting a new track record over the 388m at Angle Park. However, Sunday’s win is certainly the highlight of what has been a great racing career thus far.
Air Marshall's record now stands at 50 starts for 28 wins, 7 seconds and 7 thirds and career prizemoney of $51,505.
